Victoria: a welcome return for royal lite

Victoria swept back on to our screens in all its chocolate box glory last night and left a rather sweet taste in its wake. The ITV series, telling the story of Britain's second longest reigning monarch, returned with plenty of passion and pizzazz to earn its place in the autumn viewing schedules. It might be created firmly in the tradition of Sunday night drama, Upstairs Downstairs with crowns, but why tamper with a formula that works?

Royal family portraits

King's Day in the Netherlands has provided the opportunity for some brand new photographs of Willem-Alexander and Maxima with their three daughters.  The king and queen and their princesses were seen enjoying themselves throughout the day, offering some new images of a new royal family at work and at play.

King Willem-Alexander, Queen Maxima and their daughters on King's Day, April 26th 2014

Many of Europe's royals have had full family appearances in recent weeks, allowing a chance to see how the younger members of the clan are growing up.  On April 16th 2014, Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary were joined by their four children as they took to the balcony of the Marselisborg Palace near Aarhus to help celebrate Queen Margrethe's 74th birthday.

Christian of Denmark looks very grown up alongside his siblings Isabella, Vincent and Josephine as they join their parents at the celebrations for Queen Margrethe's 74th birthday on April 16th 2014

The Spanish royals made a rare joint appearance on Easter Sunday 2014 when they all attended Mass in Palma de Mallorca.  The Infantas Leonor and Sofia had last been seen in November 2013 visiting their grandfather in hospital.  On April 20th 2014, they joined him for photos before the service started.

Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia and their daughters, Leonor and Sofia, joined King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia as well as the Infanta Elena on Easter Sunday 2014 in Mallorca

Easter holidays were also a chance for the latest family portrait of Crown Prince Haakon Magnus and Crown Princess Mette-Marit with two of their children.  Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus posed with their parents on a snowy holiday.  Mette-Marit's son, Marius, wasn't in the pictures.

The Crown Prince and Princess of Norway with Ingrid and Sverre at Easter 2014

Princess Estelle of Sweden has become a bit of a star in recent times and in the run up to Easter was seen at a public engagement with her mother, Crown Princess Victoria.  But the last image of the little queen in waiting with both her parents is from March when she joined Victoria and Prince Daniel at an event at the Royal Palace in Stockholm for the Crown Princess' name day in March 2014.

Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel of Sweden follow Princess Estelle's lead on a public engagement in March 2014

Princess Elisabeth of Belgium has made several public appearances in recent days, the latest being at a concert she attended with her parents in Malines.  But the best chance to see her with her siblings came in February 2014 when the four children joined King Philippe and Queen Mathidle at a family gathering to celebrate the engagement of their eldest cousin, Amadeo, who had just announced he was to marry his girlfriend, Lili Rosboch.

A family gathering to celebrate the engagement of Prince Amadeo of Belgium and Lili Rosboch in February 2014 was the most recent chance to see the children of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde together

But in recent days, there is only one young royal family that has dominated the headlines.  Since the beginning of April 2014, there have been endless chances to see the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge with their baby son, Prince George, as the family tour Australia and New Zealand.  He may be younger than many of his other royal counterparts on the continent but he's already one of the most photographed princes around.  And the images of him with his parents have been just another chance in recent times to enjoy royal family portraits.

Kate, William and George leave Australia on April 25th 2014

A royal welcome for a duchess

There is always something special about royal engagements that see royals visiting the places whose names they bear.  There is always much expectation when the Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia spend time in Asturias, when Charles returns to Wales, when Kate and William arrive in Cambridge. And now Ostergotland is about to experience that special feeling for the first time this century when its duchess, Princess Estelle of Sweden, makes her first official visit for her first official engagement there on May 17th 2014.

Princess Estelle of Sweden will visit Ostergotland, her duchy, on May 17th 2014

The princess is to open a fairytale path named after her just a few months after her birth in February 2012.  And standing by to help her will be her parents, Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel.  Estelle regularly accompanies them on visits and engagements and just last week helped her mum open an exhibition about frogs in Stockholm.  But this is her first engagement in her own duchy and gets a special mention on the Swedish Royal Family's agenda.  Estelle - princess, queen in waiting and duchess - is opening another chapter in her royal story.   

Royal Cousins make history personal

The personalities of so many royal figures in the past are little known to the modern world except in broadbrush portraits that hardly do justice to the nuances of the individual behind them.  Although royal lives are often the best charted in any age, truly knowing the characters of the kings and queens, the princes and princesses is all but impossible.  And yet trying to understand what motivates the royals of yesteryear is perhaps crucial to some of the biggest events in history.  A recent BBC Two documentary tried to do just that.  Royal Cousins looked at the three men who ruled three of the most influential countries in World War One.  And its conclusions were very much a family affair.

Tsar Nicholas II and King George V - rulers of vast empires and cousins who were intensely private men

The programmes focused on those royal cousins, George V of Great Britain, Nicholas II of Russia and Wilhelm II of Germany and paid close attention to their personal relationships with one another.  It showed the closeness between George and the man the royals called Nicky and discussed the difficulty many of the regal cousins had in getting on with Wilhelm.  But the most fascinating aspect of this documentary was the influence is gave to the men's mothers.  The programme turned a queen of England, an Empress of Russia and an Empress of Germany from consorts into power players.

Wilhelm II, Emperor of Germany 1888 - 1918

In particular, Alexandra and Dagmar of Denmark were shown as determined women whose insistence on happy family lives for their children - despite royal protocol - had a massive influence on their sons' personalities.  But with very different results in each case.  Alexandra's son, George, was shown as a sensible, methodical, almost plodding man who took things seriously but whose lack of real power as head of a monarchy that was already partly symbolic meant that he could work on the PR side of kingship that needed care in the early 20th century.  In contrast, Dagmar's son Nicholas may have developed the same soft side as George but his destiny lay in ruling as an autocrat and the programme suggested that the dichotomy between how Nicholas felt and what he had to do had a major influence on the way his reign developed.

Dagmar,Empress of Russia and Alexandra, Queen of England - two sisters who were born in relative poverty and obscurity but who became powerful players in European politics through their marriages

In contract, Wilhelm's mother was shown as losing influence on her son with the suggestion in the programme that a tighter bond might in some way have changed his personality.  Victoria, Princess Royal and eldest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert was just eighteen when she gave birth, in difficult circumstances, to her first son.  One of Wilhelm's arms was damaged as a result of this dramatic delivery and Royal Cousins at War documented how that affected his personality across the rest of his life.   But it also looked at the growing distance between Vicky and her first born son and questioned whether a deeper bond might have mitigated some of Wilhelm's personality traits.

Victoria, known as Vicky, was mother of Wilhelm II of Germany

Ultimately, the programme's aim of seeing how these cousins' influenced World War One meant that, towards the end, the personal element disappeared as years of history had to be crammed into just a few minutes.  But it did shine a light on some of the most fascinating relationships in 20th century royal history and provided a reminder of the power of personality, especially in the modern age.

Estelle sets royal records

Prince George has a record to beat.  Princess Estelle of Sweden has just undertaken her first full tour at just shy of two years old.  The future king of England may be going to Australia and New Zealand with mum and dad when they head off on their tour but there are no official engagements slotted in for George.  But Estelle has been out and about with her parents on a visit to the 2014 European City of Culture, Umea, and Sweden's Royal House has reported on the trip as an official event featuring Victoria, Daniel and their little girl.

Her first royal handshake - Princess Estelle of Sweden meets artist, Jonas Nystrom, in Umea as she helps her parents on her first royal tour

Estelle got a tour of the main sights of the city on a sledge pulled along by her proud dad and has also been on a museum visit with Victoria and Daniel.  And just to show how modern this modern royal family is, there's been plenty of daddy day care on show as the future queen took the lead in meeting and greeting and her consort in waiting showed another future queen the sights and sounds of the building they were visiting.

Prince Daniel's eyes seem to be on his daughter who looks like she might be about to make a break for it as the royal family visit Umea

And she had her first taste of a royal crowd with around 55,000 people in Umea on the day that it officially began its year as European City of Culture.  While the sight of royal babies away with mum and dad isn't rare, and photocalls during tours are fairly normal, the sight of a royal family's littlest member taking on tour duties is rare.  Prince George better start practising his royal handshake - he's got a new challenge to take on.

Royal round up, week ending August 30th 2013

A round up of royal news from around Europe for the week ending August 30th 2013

UNITED KINGDOM

Another quiet seven days for the House of Windsor with things picking up as the week drew to a close.  On Saturday 30th August, the Royal Mail announced that the Prince of Wales would be one of the judges on its competition to design a Christmas stamp which has seen almost a quarter of a million children across the UK send in their vision of what the festive season means to them.  Prince Charles will cast his eye over the top 24 and select the winner. 

But it was his daughter in law who made all the headlines again this week with two chances to catch a look at Kate just five and a bit weeks after giving birth to Prince George.  First there were snatched shots in a supermarket car park showing a slim duchess pushing a trolley.  And then Kate made an unexpected appearance with William to start the Anglesey Ring of Fire marathon - the couple's last official outing on the island before they leave as the Duke of Cambridge's duties there come to an end.

 

The Duchess of Cambridge looking very well indeed less than six weeks after becoming a mother

 

The Queen continues her holiday at Balmoral.  And Prince Edward, who is a Trustee of the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme, attended a dinner for the organisation in Bachory, Aberdeenshire.

 

SPAIN

 

It was a very quiet week for the Spanish royal family as the summer holidays drew to a close.  The king is understood to be in Madrid but speculation continued over the location of the Prince and Princess of Asturias who are on private holiday with their two daughters with Italy being he favourite location in hunt an heir.  Queen Sofia remained in Mallorca where she visisted the headquarters of a food bank organization which is supported by the foundation that bears her name.  The queen met the management to find out about the services needed as economic crisis continues to affect Spain and she met voluteers working at the banks.

 

 

Queen Sofia with volunteers and patrons of the food bank in the Balearics

 

BELGIUM

 

A final week of preparations for the new king and queen before they get back to work at the beginning of September.  But visitors to the royal palace at Laeken were given the opportunity to pay their respects to Queen Astrid as they crypt was opened on August 29th to mark the anniversary of her death in 1935.

 

THE NETHERLANDS

 

It was back to work for the Dutch royals this week.  The main news was the public reappearance of former queen Beatrix following the death of her second son, Friso, in the middle of August.  Princess Beatrix attended a concert organised by the European Cultural Foundation at the Portuguese synagogue on August 26th alongside her youngest child, Constantijn, and his wife, Laurentien, who is the foundation's president.

 

 

The first public appearance of Beatrix of the Netherlands following the death of Prince Friso

 

Two days later, Beatrix appeared by herself at a concert by the European Union Youth Orchestra in Amsterdam. Meanwhile the new king marked the 100th anniversary of the Peace Palace in The Hague by attending a reception to mark the start of festivities across several weeks.  Also in attendance was the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon, who earlier in the week had been invited to a special dinner in his honour by King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima with Princess Beatrix also there but not featuring the official photo released by the Dutch royal household.

 

 

The King and Queen of the Netherlands with Ban Ki-Moon and his wife at a dinner at Noordeinde Palace in The Hague on August 27th 2013

 

NORWAY

 

Crown Princess Mette-Marit unveiled a new sculpture trail at Akershus Fortress in Oslo.  The trail has been created by and for children and features ten works of art which will remain in place for three years before being returned to the home towns of the children who designed them.

 

 

Princess Mette-Marit of Norway with one of the ten sculptures making up the trail in Akershus Fortress in Oslo

 

Crown Prince Haakon visited a school in Gjøvik, north of Oslo, as part of his involvement in Global Dignity.  The organization was set up by the prince in 2006, along with two friends, to promote the importance of human dignity for all to school children.  The prince often visits schools to lead courses on dignity.  This week's event was captured by pupils at the school themselves and is the start of the run up to Global Dignity Day on October 16th 2013 when many schools and colleges in 50 countries around the world will focus on the issue.

 

 

Prince Haakon during his visit to a school in Gjøvik as part of Global Dignity

 

At the end of the week, Prince Haakon attended the funeral of Rolv Wesunland, one of Norway's most popular actors who died at the age of 76.

 

DENMARK

 

Queen Margrethe II was back from her summer holidays this week and one of her first appearances was at the opening of a special exhibition charting the relationship between Denmark and Russia between 1600 and 1900 at the National History Museuam at Frederiksborg Castle.

 

 

Queen Margrethe II inspecting one of the statues that form part of the new Danish-Russian exhibition she opened this week

(photo  Hanne Juul, Billed-Bladet)

 

The Queen also attended the commemoration marking the anniversary of the Danish government resigning in 1943 marking the formalization of Danish resistance to the Nazi regime which had taken over the country at the beginning of World War Two.  Margrethe laid a wreath on this commemoration day.

 

Crown Prince Frederik spent some time with the Danish national volleyball team this week to mark his role as patron of the European Volleyball Championships which take place across Denmark and Poland later in the month with the final taking place in Copenhagen on September 29th 2013.

 

 

 Prince Frederik training with the Danish volleyball team ahead of the European Championships which will take place later this month

 

It was a sporty week all round as photos were released of the Crown Prince sailing with Oracle Team USA 17 in San Francisco where the famous trophy will be up for grabs again this September.  Frederik's sport theme continues - he's now a member of the International Olympic Committee which will spend the first week of September deciding where the 2020 Olympic Games will be held.

 

 

Fred afloat - the Crown Prince of Denmark at the build up to the Americas Cup in San Francisco

 

Meanwhile, Crown Princess Mary opened a new language centre in Aarhus in her role as patron of the Danish Refugee Council.

 

 

Princess Mary with some of the students at the new language centre in Aarhus she opened this week

(photo Miguel Mielgo)

 

And she attended the INDEX design awards ceremony which recognizes ideas that have improved life.  It was set up in 2005 by Frederik and Mary oversaw the presentation of the five prizes, each worth 100,00 euros while her husband was in America.

 

 

A princess in purple - Mary of Denmark at design awards in Helsingor on August 29th 2013

 



SWEDEN

 

King Carl XVI Gustaf attended the opening of the Sami parliament.  He has attended on a regular basis since the Sami people were granted their own parliament as part of their recognition as an indigenous people in the early 1990s.

 

 

The King of Sweden is welcomed to the Sami parliament by its chairman, Stegan Mikaelsson

 

Carl XVI Gustaf also presented the Polar Music Prize, handed out every year since 1992.  Winners this year included Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho and Senegalese musician Youssou N'Dour.

 

 

King Carl XVI Gustaf and Youssou N'Dour at the Polar Music Prize at Stockholm's Concert Hall on August 27th 2013

 

The king and queen continued their tour of the country to mark his 40 years on the throne this week.   They've been in Vastmanlad, west of Stockholm where they visited a riding school.  Earlier in the week they went to Gavelborgs, north of the capital, where the visit included a trip to a heritage farm and demonstrations of how the health benefits of gardening are being put to use in the area.

 

 

King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden on their visit to Vastmanlad on August 30th 2013.  The carriage ride took place in Stromsholm.

 



Crown Princess Victoria attended the annual Hermes export awards in Stockholm.  The prize is given out every year to a company with strong export records that have put Swedish business on the map and this year it went to computer game firm, Mojang. 

 

 

Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden at the annual Hermes export awards in Stockhom, August 29th

 

Prince Daniel was also looking at business in Sweden this week and spent a day at IKEA as part of his promotion of entrepreneurship in the country.  He spent some time with the company's founder, Ingvar Kamprad, to get tips on creating business and trade. The prince then attended Raoul Wallenburg Day, established to promote racial harmony in memory of the Swedish architect who saved thousands of Jews in World War Two and intended to be an annual event from now on.

 

 

Prince Daniel at events to mark Raoul Wallenburg Day in Stockholm on August 27th - Raoul's sister, Nina Lagergren, is on the prince's left

 

Prince Carl Philip opened an exhibition at the Varmland Museum showing the enduring legacy of the Muslim world in Sweden.  The event is called 1001 Inventions and highlights the legacy of the Muslim word over a 1000 year period.

 

 



 Prince Carl Philip on his tour of the exhibition - Discover the Muslim Heritage in Our World - which will tour Sweden



The flat pack prince

If you marry a princess then there's one thing you probably won't have to do unless you really want to and that's put together flat pack furniture.  While other husbands will probably spend at least one Bank Holiday trying to figure out which piece of identical looking wood is part A and which is part K and what happens if you slot them together without checking and find the thing is back to front, royal husbands have palaces full of all kinds of wardrobes ready made for them.  Dowels, Allan keys and annoying pots of glue that stick to everything except the thing they're meant to stick to are not a part of your life.  So Prince Daniel of Sweden must have been a bit perplexed when he found his royal diary for August 26th included a trip to IKEA.

 

Prince Daniel found himself in IKEA at the start of the week

 

But when your wife is heir to the throne of Sweden and IKEA just happens to be one of her future realm's most successful businesses, the chances of being asked to bring back something that's fairly cheap and will hold most of Estelle's toys are small.  The prince was finding out about the company's success and how its model can inspire entrepreneurs of the future.  While most of us get to wander through the showroom and then into the warehouse to find the flatpack we need, Daniel was treated to a creative session with the firm's bosses and a chat about environmental sustainability.

 

Like all men, Prince Daniel can't resist buying yet another torch to add to the pile that will 'come in handy one day if we have a powercut'

 

The prince also met the founder of IKEA, Ingvar Kamprad, at his home to find out how he got started and what tips he had for budding business brains in Sweden.  Unsurprisingly for a man who started up his own business before marrying into royalty, Prince Daniel has a great passion for entrepreneurship and many of his activities are linked to increasing business and commerce opportunities.

 

 

Prince Daniel with the founder of IKEA, Ingvar Kamprad. 



England's only official male consort

He gave his first name to a hall, a museum, a memorial, a thousand streets and tens of thousands of babies who were all named after him when he arrived in England.  And every generation of British royals since his have had a bevy of boys with his name somewhere among theirs. He remains the only man in British history to ever officially hold the title of Prince Consort.  Today is the anniversary of the birth of Prince Albert.

 

Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the only man ever to be made Prince Consort

 

Considering how prolific the name Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha became, it's perhaps a bit of a surprise that it wasn't the name he received on his birth in Schloss Rosenau near Coburg on August 25th 1819. His first name was Francis with Albert coming in second in a five horse race that also included Augustus, Charles and Emmanuel.  And he was born a prince of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld but when he was six his great uncle died leading to a reshuffle of the German duchies that led to Albert's father becoming the ruler of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

 

 

Prince Albert as a child with his brother, Ernest, and their mother, Louise.  She was exiled from court soon after this painting was made.

 

But different names were the least of Albert's worries as a child.  His father, Ernest, and his mother, Louise, had quickly grown to hate one another and she was exiled from court around the time of Albert's fifth birthday.  Louise had married her lover by the time Ernest became Duke and he had found another wife closer to home, making his niece his duchess.  Albert grew up with his cousin, Antoinette, as his stepmother.

 

 

Ernst, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, married his niece.  One of his illegitimate daughters married her own first cousin bringing a whole new meaning to keeping it in the family

 

It's surprising that from this turbulent childhood grew a man who would establish the whole idea of a royal family in Britain.  Because it was Albert's romantic and solid marriage to Victoria and their nursery of nine children that formed the modern image of family that has been a bedrock of the British royal image ever since.  There was none of the infidelity associated with kings and queens of old.  The queen loved the prince and the prince loved the queen and their children grew up in a happy home.

 

 

The famous portrait of Victoria and Albert with their eldest five children, painted by Franz Xaver Winthalter in 1846.  It cemented the family image of the royals.

 

Albert was made Prince Consort by Victoria in 1857.  By then his public role had become considerable and he campaigned for better working rights and reform of the education system as well as abolition of slavery.  While Victoria was the public head of the family, at home that role belonged to him.  He was in charge of their children's education and leisure and was lent on heavily by the queen in her political and public duties.  He was by her side for just 21 years of her 63 year reign but his influence was such that even now it is impossible to think of Victoria without the man born 194 years ago today - Albert.

 

 

The Kingmaker of Belgium

The handover of royal power from Albert II to Philippe, King of the Belgians, this summer was smooth, peaceful and happy.  But the reason that Philippe and Mathilde have a kingdom to rule at all began 183 years ago today in rather more dramatic circumstances.  And it ended with the accession of a man who, by that time could have been King of Greece or Prince Consort of the United Kingdom.  Instead he became the first King of the Belgians and went on to make royal marriages and families across Europe.

One of the first official portraits of Queen Mathilde of the Belgians, released just days after the accession of her husband on July 21st 2013

On the evening of August 25th 1830 riots broke out in Brussels which led to the independence of Belgium and the creation of a new monarchy that still survives today.  A special performance of an opera to mark the birthday of the ruler of the United Netherlands, of which the future Belgium was then a part, ended in protests on the streets of Brussels.  The trouble had been brewing a while with pressures for independence and it only increased after the trouble of August 25th, culminating in peace conference in London in which the modern Belgium was created.  It is a truth universally acknowledged in 19th century Europe that a new nation must be in need of a king and the throne was offered to a man called Leopold who had already come close to ruling in two other European nations.  And all by the age of 40.

Philippe is the great, great, great grandson of the man whose destiny as King of the Belgians began on this day in 1830 after a riot outside a theatre

 

The man became Leopold I, King of the Belgians and founder of several dynasties.  He had started life as Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, the second youngest son of a duke called Franz and his wife, Augusta.  Franz became famous for two things - his large art collection and being the ancestor of most of modern Europe's royals  Not bad for a chap from an obscure part of Germany that no one had really ever heard of when he became ruler of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld in 1800.

 

 

The great granddaddy of Europe's royals.  Franz of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld's genes are spread through the palaces of every modern monarchy on the continent, thanks to three of his children

 

By that time, little Leopold was ten and already in charge of an army.  Perhaps someone might have guessed then that he would go on to rule Europe through his descendants.  It might have been a purely ceremonial role but being made a colonel of a Russian regiment in his home state led to him going to Paris in 1806 following the Napoleonic occupation of Saxe-Coburg.  From there a military career in Russia beckoned where he fought again Napoleon and was climbing the ranks when he first came close to a crown.

 

 

Leopold I, King of the Belgians in his time in the Russian army

 

But while Leopold built his army career, his future career as king and royal superpapa was coming to find him.  In 1814, while in London, he met Princess Charlotte of Wales at a party and she asked him to call on her.  When he popped in for tea they spent the best part of an hour together, chaperoned of course, and a mutual attraction began to grow.  Reports show Charlotte's father, by then Prince Regent, as impressed by the young lieutenant general.  But the man who would be George IV had no intention of Leo scooping up his girl.  She was his only heir, the only legitimate grandchild at the time of George III, and she was going to be Queen of England.  Handsome but poor soldiers were not on dad's shopping list of potential husbands.

 

 

Princess Charlotte of Wales was in line to be England's fifth Queen Regnant from the moment she was born in 1796

 

Besides, George had just spent a lot of time and effort getting Charlotte to agree to marry the heir to the Dutch throne.  It was time badly spent because not long after she finally agreed to the wedding, she changed her mind and caused all kinds of ructions by running away in cabs to escape the marriage with royal uncles following her with warrants for her return to her father.  It's thought she had hopes of marrying a Prussian prince but that came to nothing as well and she told her father than she would wed Leopold or no one else.  The impoverished prince was summoned to Britain and the couple wed in 1816.  They were seemingly happy and Lieutenant Leo settled down to become the future Prince Consort of Great Britain.  But then disaster struck.  His wife died giving birth to their first child, a boy, who was stillborn.  After just 17 months of marriage, Leopold was a widower.

 



 

The last portrait of Princess Charlotte of Wales, made in the days before her death

 

Charlotte's death sparked a major crisis for the British royal family as there was now no legitimate heir beyond the sons of George III.  While Leopold mourned his wife, another member of his family became involved in the story.  His older sister, Victoria, was by now a widow and less than a year after Charlotte's death she married the fourth son of George III and provided him with the longed for legitimate heir, a little girl who bore the same name.  Leopold's niece became Queen Victoria.

 

 

Victoria of Saxce-Coburg-Saalfeld, sister of Leopold, gave the British crown the heir it needed

 

Leopold, meanwhile, was offered the throne of Greece.  He turned it down and by 1830 was a bit of a European enigma.  But the following year the great powers came calling and offered him the throne of Belgium - after considering him against several other candidates.  This time he liked the offer before him and agreed to take the title.  He swore his oath of allegiance on July 21st 1831 which became Belgium's national day.  He married again, giving Belgium its first queen, and went on to fight off an invasion from the Netherlands. 

 

 

Leopold I, King of the Belgians, and his second wife, Louise-Marie, Queen of the Belgians

 

But his involvement with the throne of England wasn't over yet.  He had lost his British princess, the girl who would have made him a Prince Consort.  But his niece needed a man to rule alongside her and in 1839, Leopold arranged a meeting between Victoria and one of his nephews, Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.  This time, the fairytale romance between a Queen Regnant and a poor-ish prince from a far away part of Germany had a happier ending.  Victoria and Albert produced nine children and gave their names to a whole age. 

 

 

Prince Albert, nephew of Leopold I, married his cousin, Victoria, in 1840

 

Victoria and Albert's descendants married into royal houses across Europe while Leopold's descendants still rule Belgium today. And all because of a riot 183 years ago - a peaceful summer night in Brussels in 1830 might have led to a very different modern Europe.



 











Royal mummy tummies

It's official.  The mummy tummy that Kate showed off with pride outside St Mary's Hospital in Paddington on July 23rd as she presented Prince George of Cambridge to the world for the first time is the fashion statement of the year.  Vanity Fair has just included a snap of that tummy in its entry for Kate on this year's best dressed list. But why has it taken until 2013 for a royal woman to acknowledge that if you've just had a baby, you've still got a belly?  How did other future queen consorts fare in the out of hospital clothes stakes?

 

A yummy mummy with her tummy - Kate, William and George leave hospital

(photo Christopher Neve)

 

Maxima probably had the best idea.  She signed up to the Dutch tradition of letting dad present the baby to the press so out came Willem-Alexander with the newborn while mum put her feet up for five minutes.  Maxima made her first appearance with baby a few days later, sensibly sitting on a sofa while Queen Beatrix held the new heiress and conveniently covered up Maxima's middle with some strategic cradling. 

 

 

The first official photograph of Princess Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands taken in December 2003. Proud granny, Beatrix, holds the heiress in front of Maxima's mummy tummy.
 

Mathilde also went for the sitting idea.  Her first appearance with baby Elisabeth was in a room at the hospital where the baby had been born by Caesarean section in October 2001.  Several days after the birth, the cameras were invited in to find a seated Crown Princess with husband and baby.

 

 

A future queen makes her first appearance - Elisabeth sleeps in daddy's arms while mummy keeps her tummy hidden by sitting down

 

Other princesses haven't gone for the seated route.  Mette-Marit did crouching for her first snap with baby Ingrid Alexandra.  Hats off to a woman who had just given birth for managing a squat.  As well as winning the admiration of mummies everywhere, she also kept her middle in a bundle that allowed no glimpse of a rounded tum.

Mette-Marit's son, Marius, holds little sister Ingrid Alexandra as his mum somehow manages to crouch at his side just days after giving birth

Others have had to stand to show off baby for the first time - Mary of Denmark was out of hospital within days of delivering Christian in October 2005 but the chilly autumn weather allowed her to wear a long coat which flapped elegantly around her middle and kept the tummy hidden.

 

 

A princess in green - Christian leaves hospital in October 2005 with mum hiding her tum in a very long coat

 

The long coat trick was also tried, with less success, by Letizia when she took baby Leonor home in November 2005.  The princess had been in hospital for over a week following her emergency c section and greeted the cameras for the first time in a cream trouser suit.  She still had it on for the first official photos, taken a few hours late, back home.

 

 

Mummy's tummy is peeking through under the big white shawl and long cream coat as Letizia and Felipe take baby Leonor home from hospital in Madrid in 2005

 

It was a future queen regnant who had the whole thing sorted to perfection.  When Victoria of Sweden left hospital in February 2012 just one day after giving birth to baby Estelle there was just one photo, released by the royal household after mum and dad had got baby safely home.  Victoria is in dark blue, Daniel holds the car seat and the whole thing is done at such a distance that you can make out faces only.  A few days later, radiant in peach and in head shot only, Victoria posed for official snaps.  Until Kate made mummy tummies a must have, that was the way to do it.

 

 

 

Victoria, Daniel and Estelle' s first appearance as a family